Many species of animals and plants have been discovered only because they were imported for the purpose of keeping them alive. This is very important, because species knowledge is the absolute basic requirement for species protection. You cannot protect a species that you do not know. In the north of India, in the district of Coochbehar, a very enterprising and knowledgeable man, Bipul Gope, has been active in ornamental fishing for many years. On his extensive excursions he has already discovered many species, such as the colorful snakehead fish species Channa andrao and C. bleheri, he rediscovered Dario dario, lost since 1822, and many other species more, including a freshwater shrimp. We first imported this species in 2007 and gave it the makeshift name Macrobrachium sp. “Banded”. Werner Klotz described the species one year later as M. agwi based on our imported animals. Now we could finally import this species again. Our supplier sent it this time under the name “Candy shrimp”, a nice popular name for a pretty shrimp!
Macrobrachium agwi belongs to the species where the males can develop very long claw arms. The maximum length of the animals is 5-6 cm (not counting claw arms), females remain smaller. The Candy Shrimp belongs to the large-armed shrimps, which can be bred well in the aquarium, that it lays few, large eggs (approx. 20) and the young shrimps hatch already far developed. They do not go through a larval phase in the sea. The experiences with Macrobrachium show in general that they can be kept together with not too small fishes. They are omnivorous, but clearly have a preference for carnivorous food. Many species like to eat small snails. Long-term experience especially with M. agwi has not been reported yet. The aquarium should not be too small and should have many hiding places, because these animals can become aggressive among themselves. The water temperature can be between 18 and 26°C.
For our customers: the animals have code 484232 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
